by Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Mark Sanchez thinks he and Tim Tebow could have been buddies - if not for, you know, the part where they were fighting for the same job last season while Tebow was serving as a distraction to Sanchez.

"It's just hard when you're competing like that. There's just a professionalism about it," Sanchez said Thursday in his first meeting with reporters since Tebow was released by the New York Jets on Monday. "You don't get too close to guys like that. You're professional, and you're cool.

"If the guy's got a flat tire on the side of the road, I'm going to stop, I'm not going to blow by him. But at the same time, I'm not sending him gifts on his birthday."

Sanchez got the opposite of a gift from the Jets front office Friday. He got even stiffer competition for his job as the starting quarterback in the form of second-round pick Geno Smith, though Sanchez said Thursday he has "no doubt" he'll retain the job he lost late last season.

Smith made a brief appearance at the Jets' facility for a press conference on Saturday but won't be back until next week for rookie camp. Sanchez and the veterans, meanwhile, continue to take part in offseason workouts.

It's about to get awkward up in here - even more so than it was last year with veteran David Garrard also setting his sights on Sanchez's job. In other words, don't expect Sanchez to put Smith on his birthday-gift list.

Sanchez vowed to help Smith and to not develop any bitter feelings toward the rookie.

So whereas Brett Favre might've sped past Aaron Rodgers on the side of the highway, Sanchez will be there with a jack and a pump.

"Yeah, if he's got a question, of course I'm not going to be a jerk," Sanchez said. "I've heard plenty of stories about guys like that. They come ask you a read on a (play) and they say, 'Hey, go look at your book.' Well, yeah, go look at your book, but if we're on the field, it's not like you can run in and look at your book.

No more than the 52 turnovers over the past two seasons, combined, have already hurt him. If not for $8.25 million in guaranteed base salary this year, Sanchez might be standing beside Tebow right now, with a figurative flat tire on the car that is his NFL career.

Enter offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, the latest to tell Sanchez not to aim at the guys with the different-colored jerseys.

"We're going to have possession of the ball after every play," Sanchez said Mornhinweg told him. "Don't lay it on the carpet and don't throw it to anybody else."

Easy enough. But there's also the mental part of things. Mornhinweg, a former assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers as well as the head coach of the Detroit Lions who watched Joey Harrington melt in front of his eyes in 2002, has been working on ball security with Sanchez.

Mornhinweg called Sanchez during the draft because the commentators were hammering the fifth-year passer on TV. Sanchez said he wasn't watching. Mornhinweg's next call was to alert Sanchez that the Jets had taken Smith and that it was time to - stop us if you've heard this before from the Jets - compete.

Mornhinweg expects Sanchez to do just that in his West Coast system. So does head coach Rex Ryan, who said last weekend he's expecting to see the best from Sanchez this season than anyone has ever seen. Obviously, Sanchez agrees.

Why should anyone on the outside believe that?

"There's a challenge for something I hold very dear to my heart - that has really been my life goal - and that's playing at this level and being a starting quarterback," Sanchez said. "When somebody challenges you that way, it really brings out your best. I don't see why that would be any different to me."

Maybe he doesn't, but plenty of others do.

"Yeah, why worry about that? There's not enough hours in the day to worry about what the fans are saying, what the media's saying - if this is my last chance," Sanchez said. "It's too much, it's too much. Just focus on the reads, focus on your footwork, let your play take care of itself and have fun doing it.